Five points separate the two teams ahead of Wednesday night’s Premier League meeting at the Etihad Stadium with league leaders Arsenal having played two games more than defending champions Manchester City, but who will be celebrating by the end of the night?
MSNEWS Sport’s team of football experts make their predictions and select their combined starting XIs of players from the two clubs.
Predictions
Ali Magumba Dhamuzungu: Manchester City 3 Arsenal 1
Expect a repeat of the scoreline at the Emirates. City are too strong and too dominant at present for Arsenal to beat. Their best hope is a draw but the absence of William Saliba has completely unbalanced the way they defend and it is hard to see them resisting Erling Haaland and Co.
Ssemwogerere Mukiibi(Omugave): Manchester City 1 Arsenal 2
Mikel Arteta is best placed of any Premier League manager to understand what it takes to compete with a Pep Guardiola side that is in form and injury free. City away is a difficult challenge for any side but they are not unbeatable and to get a result it will take an opponent prepared to get numbers forward, and take risks, as Arsenal can do.
Juma Ali: Manchester City 2 Arsenal 1
A sequence of 11 league victories in a row for City over Arsenal tells its own story. Pep Guardiola’s players have rediscovered their defensive discipline at just the right time to help make it 12.
Marvin Murungi: Manchester City 3 Arsenal 1
Arsenal have the required quality and courage in attack to cause real problems for City, and they will certainly create chances against a high defensive line.
But the loss of Saliba has been disastrous for Arteta’s side and it is hard to see any way in which they can effectively manage the threat of Haaland. City will ultimately have too much firepower.
James Mutawe: Manchester City 2 Arsenal 1
I expect it to be close but City to have too much for Arsenal.
Robert Waswa: Manchester City 1 Arsenal 2
This may just be a stubborn refusal to accept I was wrong earlier in the year, but I still think there is another twist in this season’s title race which will go Arsenal’s way and I’m going to predict it starts at the Etihad Stadium with a shock away win for Arteta’s side
Daniel Mutyaba: Manchester City 2 Arsenal 2
The fact the teams have played twice this year, and the knowledge Arteta and Guardiola share, could prove a leveller and make this closer than some assume. Arsenal have little hope of a clean sheet.
Jason Ahereza
There are a few contentious selections. Aaron Ramsdale has been outstanding in goal for Arsenal but Ederson offers more. City have shifted around their defence, with four centre-halves and less certainty as to who plays at right-back – although Manuel Akanji has performed well.
The injury doubt over Nathan Aké and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s overall impact edges it for the latter at left-back.
Arsenal fans will complain about Thomas Partey’s exclusion but Rodri has been so dominant. The only other question was whether Gabriel Martinelli deserves a place ahead of Jack Grealish but the England international has become so influential for City.
Kiwalabye Joel Katerega
Saliba would make the team if he was fit – in his place comes Gabriel Magalhães. It’s a close call between Zinchenko and Aké, who has had a great season, at left-back. Playing John Stones as the inverted right-back is such an advantage when it comes to getting an extra man in midfield that it feels like a waste to play him as a more conventional centre-back.
There are so many good performers left out of this side including İlkay Gündoğan, Martinelli and Partey. It can feel like Guardiola is going lukewarm on Kevin De Bruyne – whether he plays him against Arsenal and then the Real Madrid games will tell us more.
Javira Kiweewa
A ratio of 7-4 in City’s favour is somewhat skewed by Arsenal’s stumble this month to three successive draws, but it feels justified by their serial title-winning calibre. Saliba would have made this selection but for his back injury, as would Aké until his hamstring pull in Munich.
Gabriel is a shoo-in at centre-half for his aerial threat and his sheer reliability, while Martin Odegaard’s 12 goals and seven assists as captain elevate him beyond Bernardo Silva and Gündoğan for a midfield spot. At right wing, Bukayo Saka has been in consistently scintillating form this season and displaces Riyad Mahrez, despite the Algerian’s hat-trick at Wembley last weekend.
Deo Mutabazi
Martinelli is Arsenal’s top scorer this season, with 15 goals in all competitions, but Grealish is playing with such confidence at the moment that he simply can’t be left out of this combined team.
The other contentious position is left-back, where Zinchenko has been largely excellent for Arsenal. Aké is a more solid defender, so he gets the nod. Without Saliba next to him, Gabriel is not quite so imposing.
James Ssenabulya
This team is based on those who are available. City are the best team in Europe but Odegaard and Saka would burnish most sides. With Aké injured, Gabriel gets the nod over Aymeric Laporte, who has not played much this season.
Luke David Muwanguzi
The fact I have picked eight City players shows how well Arsenal have done to make this a proper title race run-in and also why they are finding it so hard to stop Guardiola’s side overtaking them on the finishing straight.
When you consider Zinchenko was a City player too this time last year it is a measure of the resources the reigning champions have.
Gabriel Jesus left City because they signed Haaland and as good as he has been at the Emirates, Haaland is the best centre forward in Europe right now. Odegaard and Saka both deserve their places in the combined XI though. Whether they would get into Guardiola’s first-choice XI is another matter but Saka surely would?
Kiiza James
Ramsdale’s shot-stopping has possibly been better than Ederson’s this season, but the City goalkeeper’s passing and experience gives him the edge.
There is silk and steel in that back four, with Aké’s injury making Zinchenko an automatic pick at left-back.
Partey’s passing is more eye-catching but Rodri is more consistent within games and across a season. Grealish has been flying, but I’m a sucker for pace so Martinelli starts. He has scored as many league goals as Marcus Rashford and just one fewer than Mohamed Salah this season.
